US wants SA man prosecuted over bribery in illegal elephant killing

ANA

The man is accused of bribing Zimbabwean officials while guiding a Colorado tourist.

US prosecutors have indicted Hanno van Rensburg, the owner of a South African hunting company, accusing him of bribing Zimbabwean officials while guiding a Colorado tourist and working to have the ivory tusks of an elephant that the group illegally killed inside a national park imported to the United States.

The Colorado client shot one elephant in 2015 that did not die, but the hunters were unable to find it. Van Rensburg and the hunter allegedly bribed government officials with at least US$5 000 to let the party shoot other elephants inside the park.

Zimbabwean law does not allow hunters tracking a wounded animal inside the park to hunt other wildlife.